According to organizers, there were 200 submissions from eleven different countries. They were judged by seven jury members: Patrick Chapatte, Imad Hajjaj, Jihad el-Khazen, George Khoury, Majdi Ashafi’, Michelle Standjosfski, and Habib Haddad.

The growing number of awards for Arab comics and graphic novels — at International Comics Book Festival of Algeria (FIBDA); at the Cairo Comix Festival; and now as part of the Arab Comics Initiative at the American University in Beirut — amply demonstrates the vibrancy of the Arabic comix scene.